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The Long Game: title sequence for MDA1004 Image Design A3. Built in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. A psychological thriller about perseverance, denial and the breaking point. #imagedesign #titlesequence #AIT #motiondesign #TheLongGame

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Ramadan's Sacred Light and Eid's Communal Joy

I shot this series during Ramadan and Eid celebrations in March 2026, documenting my own Bangladeshi-Australian community in Sydney. The photos come from an Iftar gathering on a Thursday night and the outdoor Eid prayer service the following morning. I wanted to capture how sacred light transforms spaces during this period, from the public architecture of Lakemba Mosque to the warm glow of decorations in someone's home.

The editing process focused on enhancing the warm golden tones that were already present when I shot these images. I used adjustment layers for color grading, paying particular attention to boosting yellows and reds to create that spiritual warmth. Each photo received different treatment based on its genre. The landscapes needed clarity and vibrant skies. The portraits required careful dodging to lift faces that were backlit. The compositional shots got heavy contrast and tight cropping to emphasize pattern and light over context.

I worked non-destructively throughout, keeping all edits on separate layers so I could refine my decisions. Vignettes played a major role in the girl portrait and ornament photo, helping isolate the warm light against darkness. The collection moves from public to private, from the scale of hundreds gathered for prayer to the intimacy of a child reaching for Ramadan lights at home.

Lakemba Mosque (Landscape)

This is Lakemba Mosque on Eid morning, the center of Muslim worship in Sydney. I wanted to show the building in its urban context rather than isolate it. The editing involved removing power lines with the Spot Healing Brush, boosting the cyan and blue channels to make the sky pop, and adding a green tinge to the dome using selective color adjustments. I increased overall brightness and contrast to make the architecture stand out against the sky. The challenge was balancing the dark front facade with the bright sunny side.

Eid Prayer Congregation (Landscape)

Taken at Punchbowl Park right after the outdoor Eid prayer. Hundreds of people had just finished praying, and I stepped back to capture the full scale of it. The prayer mats create this geometric pattern across the grass. I had to lift the shadows significantly because the foreground woman and child were silhouetted. I boosted the greens in the grass and the blues in the sky, added a subtle vignette to draw the eye toward the center congregation, and increased overall vibrance. The mood I wanted was post-prayer celebration energy rather than the solemnity of the actual prayer.

Wonder (Portrait)

A girl reaching for the crescent moon and star lights during Ramadan. Her face was quite dark from being backlit by the decorations, so I used the Dodge tool on her face and reaching hand to bring them forward. I pushed the color balance heavily toward yellows and reds to create that warm sacred glow. Instead of adding contrast, I actually reduced it to preserve the soft quality of the light. The vignette here is strong, around 40%, because I wanted to create that feeling of an intimate moment isolated in darkness. This was my most successful edit in terms of mood.

Eid Mubarak (Portrait)

Three people from the same family celebrating Eid together. The challenge was that all three faces were at different exposure levels, so I had to dodge each one individually to even them out. I cropped to remove distracting elements like wall posters and stuffed toys in the background. The color work focused on making the traditional dress vibrant, particularly boosting the reds and yellows. I kept this one clean without a vignette because it felt like a formal family portrait that should stay evenly lit.

Mandala (Compositional/Abstract)

Close-up of mehndi henna creating a geometric mandala pattern. I cropped extremely tight, removing the background fabric and even a second hand that was visible. The goal was to make this about pure pattern rather than "someone got henna done." I used the Spot Healing Brush to remove the mehndi cone that was visible in the corner. After maximizing contrast and sharpening heavily on the henna lines, I converted the whole thing to black and white. Color was actually distracting from the geometric form. This one demonstrates the biggest transformation from the original shot.

Sacred Glow (Compositional/Abstract)

A Ramadan ornament with internal lighting. I darkened the background almost to black and enhanced the warm amber glow coming from inside. The vignette on this is the heaviest of all six photos, around 45%, because I wanted that "single light in darkness" effect. I reduced overall brightness while boosting the warm tones through color balance, pushing yellows and reds. The challenge was keeping the glow visible without blowing out the highlights. I sharpened the ornament details but left the glow itself soft.

Baby's Eid (Movie Poster)

I built this poster by layering three of my edited photos in Photoshop. The girl reaching for lights became the hero image in the center. I placed the ornament glow as the background layer, applied a 15-pixel Gaussian blur to it, and set the opacity to 50% so it would stay atmospheric without competing with the main subject. A dark gradient layer from the top solved the readability problem for the title text.

The compositing techniques include alpha blending through layer masks on the girl image to fade her edges smoothly, blend modes for the background blur, and Smart Objects for all placed photos to maintain quality. I used two copies of the ornament as small decorative accents flanking the tagline. A semi-transparent dark bar sits behind the tagline for legibility.

The typography follows standard movie poster conventions with the title in gold Impact font at 100pt, tagline in white at 35pt, and credits at the bottom in 15pt. A Color Balance adjustment layer at the top unifies everything with warm golden tones. The poster positions this as a family-friendly cultural film about experiencing Eid through a child's perspective.

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Understanding Digital Media: Formats, Tools, and Copyright Essentials

Introduction

Digital media is essential in today's creative industries, and honestly there's a lot more technical depth here than most people realize. Whether you're designing posters, editing photos, or creating title sequences, understanding how digital images and videos work is crucial. This guide covers file formats, codecs, tools, export settings, and copyright essentials - basically everything you need to know for working professionally.

Digital Image and Video File Types, Formats, and Codecs

Image File Formats

Digital images come in different file types for specific uses, and choosing the wrong one can mess up your whole workflow. JPEG uses lossy compression for small file sizes, ideal for web and social media but degrades quality with repeated editing - something to watch out for if you're doing heavy post-processing. PNG supports transparency with lossless compression, perfect for logos and graphics. TIFF preserves maximum quality for professional editing and archiving. PSD is Photoshop's format that keeps layers and adjustments intact. RAW files are unprocessed camera data offering maximum editing flexibility.

The key difference is compression: lossy compression (JPEG) makes files smaller but reduces quality, while lossless compression (PNG, TIFF) maintains perfect quality with larger files.

Video Formats and Codecs

Video files use both a codec (compresses/decompresses data) and a wrapper (packages data into a playable file). This confused me at first because I thought the file extension WAS the codec, but they're actually separate things. Common formats include MP4 (universal compatibility for YouTube, social media), MOV (Apple's high-quality format for editing), AVI (cross-platform, high quality but large files), and MKV (open-source, supports all codecs).

Key video codecs: H.264 is the global standard for streaming and Blu-ray with excellent quality-to-size ratio. H.265 (HEVC) creates 30-50% smaller files at the same quality, essential for 4K/8K. ProRes is Apple's professional codec for high-quality editing. Audio codecs include MP3 (small, lossy), WAV (uncompressed, professional quality), and FLAC (lossless compression).

Export Settings for Popular Broadcast Platforms

Export settings ensure content displays correctly, and getting this wrong is frustrating because you have to re-export everything. For web and digital, use 72 DPI, RGB color mode, and sRGB color space with JPEG for photos and PNG for graphics. Streaming platforms like YouTube use MP4 with H.264 codec at 1080p or 4K.

For print, use 300 DPI and CMYK color mode with TIFF or PDF. Consider bleed and trim areas. Professional editing uses high-quality formats like MOV with ProRes, then compress for delivery. The key is balancing quality with file size - web needs small files that load fast, print needs maximum quality.

Image Manipulation Tools and Techniques

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for image editing, built on non-destructive editing through layers, masks, and adjustment layers. The non-destructive workflow is essential - it means you can make changes without permanently altering the original image. Layers stack elements separately, masks hide or reveal parts without deleting, and adjustment layers change colors and exposure while keeping edits reversible.

Core tools include Crop for composition, Transform for scaling and rotating, Levels and Curves for exposure control, Hue/Saturation for colors, and Healing Brush/Clone Stamp for removing blemishes. These handle corrective adjustments (fixing exposure, white balance) and creative adjustments (artistic effects, color grading).

Adobe Lightroom complements Photoshop with rapid batch editing and photo organization. Professional workflows often combine both: Lightroom for initial corrections across many images, then Photoshop for detailed retouching.

Understanding composition principles like lines, shapes, patterns, and the rule of thirds guides visual balance and improves image quality whether cropping photos or designing posters.

Image Copyright Essentials

When you create original artwork, you automatically own the copyright from creation. This grants exclusive rights to copy, distribute, display, and modify your work. Moral rights include the right to be credited and to prevent harmful alterations. This is really important for anyone building a portfolio or posting work online.

Creative Commons licenses let you specify how others can use your work. CC BY requires attribution, CC BY-NC restricts commercial use, and CC BY-SA requires derivative works to share the same license.

Protecting your work involves watermarking (visible marks identifying you as creator), embedding metadata (copyright info in the file), and maintaining records of creation dates. Strategic watermark placement across the image center prevents easy removal by cropping - putting it in the corner is basically useless because anyone can crop it out.

Always obtain permission before using others' images and provide proper attribution. Fair use allows limited use for education or commentary but doesn't replace permission. Understanding copyright protects your creative work and ensures ethical collaboration.

Conclusion

Understanding digital media formats, professional tools, and copyright principles forms the foundation for careers in digital imaging. Knowing when to use specific formats and codecs ensures your work looks its best across platforms. Mastering Photoshop and Lightroom provides the technical skills to realize your creative vision. Understanding copyright protects your work while respecting other creators' rights. These fundamentals support professional image design from initial capture to final delivery.

References

Adobe 2024, JPEG vs TIFF: Which One Should I Use?, Adobe, viewed 22 February 2026, https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/file-types/image/comparison/jpeg-vs-tiff.html

Adobe 2024, Lossy vs Lossless Compression, Adobe, viewed 25 February 2026, https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/photography/discover/lossy-vs-lossless.html

API Video 2024, What is the Difference Between H.264 vs H.265?, API Video, viewed 26 February 2026, https://api.video/blog/video-trends/H264-vs-H265/

Cloudinary 2025, JPEG vs TIFF: Understanding the Differences, Cloudinary, viewed 28 February 2026, https://cloudinary.com/guides/image-formats/jpeg-vs-tiff

Creative Commons 2024, Choose a License, Creative Commons, viewed 3 March 2026, https://creativecommons.org/choose/

Gumlet 2025, H.264 vs H.265: Which Video Codec Should You Choose?, Gumlet, viewed 1 March 2026, https://www.gumlet.com/learn/h264-vs-h265/

ShortPixel 2024, Lossy vs Lossless Compression: Comprehensive Analysis, ShortPixel, viewed 4 March 2026, https://shortpixel.com/blog/lossy-vs-lossless/